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School exclusions for drugs and alcohol have risen by 57 per cent in five years, an analysis of official data shows, as “county lines” gangs are blamed.

Criminal groups recruiting youngsters to ferry drugs around the country has also led to a steep rise in teenagers being convicted and prosecuted for intent to supply drugs, according to a new report.

An analysis of Department for Education (DfE) figures shows that the number of children permanently excluded from secondary schools due to drugs or alcohol is now at its highest on record.

In 2016/17, there were 565 children in England permanently excluded for drugs or alcohol, which is up from 360 five years ago and the highest since this form of data collection began in 2006/7.

During the same five year period, there has been a 90 per cent rise in prosecutions of 15-year-olds for possession with intent to supply drugs, from 29 in 2012/13 to 55 in 2016/17.

A report by Volteface, a think-tank specialising in drug policy, and Mentor UK, a drug education charity, warns that gangs are increasingly targetting children to run “county lines” which facilitate the supply of class A drugs from urban areas to county or coastal and rural towns.

Boris Pomroy, CEO of Mentor UK, said that many vulnerable children are being treated as criminalised and excluded from school when in fact they should be treated as victims.

“The reality is that if you put vulnerable people outside the mainstream school system you are likely to make them more vulnerable still,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

“If you have a 14 or 15-year-old who is using or supplying drugs to friends, and mysteriously disappearing from school, I would like to see headteachers asking questions about why that is happening, rather than expelling them. I understand why schools end up doing what they do. But nonetheless there are young people who are being failed by the system.”

Sadiq Khan has said that the rise in exclusions is behind a recent surge in knife attacks

Earlier this year, Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, provoked a major backlash among teachers by claiming that the rise in exclusions is behind a recent surge in knife attacks.

Meanwhile, the Education Secretary has argued that truancy is a key reason for rising violence, as he admitted efforts to reduce the number of pupils persistently absent from school have stalled.

Students who have been temporarily or permanently excluded from mainstream schools are sent to Pupil Referral Units (PRU), where they are given specialist support and educated in small class sizes.

Sam Walters, headmaster of Redbridge Alternative Provision, a PRU in Redbridge, Ilford, said that schools need to “think creatively” and address underlying issues rather than immediately exclude children for drug related issues.

He said: “Schools should not just being saying ‘this young person is dealing drugs, they can’t be here anymore’. They need to ask why are they doing it: have they been exploited by elders in a gang environment, and do they need help getting out?

"No young person aspires to spend three days sleeping rough, running drugs up and down the country. It is quite manipulative how they are maneuvered into that position. "

Liz McCulloch, director of policy at Volteface, said the data reveals a “worrying rise” in young people’s use and involvement in the supply of illegal drugs.

She said there is an “urgent need” for ministers to adopt a fresh approach to drug-related harm that “promote the best interests of young people”.